Meet Brechfa - the village fighting back against school, pub and chapel closures

Brechfa Primary School is set to close later this summer due to falling pupil numbers.

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How can a Welsh village survive the closure of its chapel, school and pub? Brechfa in Carmarthenshire is fighting back, as Sion Morgan reports

The traditions of our Welsh villages have long been under attack, driven by an influx of city-based home buyers, the closure of pubs, post offices and schools – and all the while crumbling churches and chapels suffer dwindling congregations.

Brechfa, population 300, a settlement that has existed in the Cothi Valley in Carmarthenshire since the 6th century, is one such example, described by residents there as “a shadow of its former self”.

Now those living in the west Wales hamlet are working together to rediscover a sense of community left behind by an ever-evolving society.

If successful, they hope the Brechfa blueprint could inspire other villages to follow suit.

Caroline Evans is secretary of Llanfihangel Rhos y Corn and Brechfa Community Association, a body which will meet on tonight to discuss opportunities for the community, centred on plans to create a self-sustainable community hub owned, run and used by villagers.

“Brechfa is taking stock of how it can survive as a village,” she said.

“Last year, the chapel here was closed and put up for sale.

“This year, the falling numbers of children in Ysgol Brechfa has meant that governors have taken the decision to close the school this summer and the children transferred to Nantgaredig in September.

“In addition, the historic pub the Forest Arms, which has been closed for several years and increasingly falling into decay, has been put up for auction on July 11.”

Peter Polish, the association’s chair, added: “The character of the village has changed over the past 20 years, partly because of increased incomers moving here, partly because those people have less of a commitment to the Welsh language.

“Many villages like this one across the country have become a sort of dormitory for people working in the nearby towns and cities.

“People want to move to Carmarthen or Swansea but they can’t afford the house prices and so they relocate to places like Brechfa.

“As a result the village is a shadow of its former self.

“The biggest private land owners are pulling out, the chapel here is crumbling and parents are taking their children out of the school as they await its closure.”

The associations’s answer is simple according to Mr Polish.

“What we have decided to do is save the pub,” he said.

The idea is based on cases elsewhere were redundant school buildings have been offered to communities based on approved business plans.

Brechfa plans to raise £40,000 of the building’s asking price by asking villagers to contribute up to £5,000 each.

It is hoped that auctioneers would welcome such a commitment by taking the pub off the market, allowing time for the association to raise the remaining figure needed to buy the building outright.

The Forest Arms is part of the Dunsany estate and its owner, Sir Edward Dashwood has already made encouraging responses to communications from the association.

“The idea is to create and develop a centre for the community,” Mr Polish said.

A community run pub, a cafe a restaurant.

“But we’re also keen to attract visitors. We’ve spoken about running a sort of hostel for backpackers and bikers.

“And this week we’ve been looking over the plans again to explore the idea of starting a micro brewery here.”

Other ideas for the venue could see it used as a social centre, café, craft centre, space for local businesses and education centre.

Mr Polish added: “The idea is to highlight the sort of skills and support that used to be the lifeblood of our villages but aren’t there anymore.”

This is the association’s latest move in securing Brechfa’s future since it was founded in the 1980s

Around 10 years ago, the community faced losing its village shop and for years after fought valiantly to retain the post office service within it.

By 2009 members had set-up their own community store with funding from the Rural Development Plan to improve communication links.

With the money, the community bought a small computer, postal scales, broadband services, a router and antennae allowing them to transmit a signal up to one kilometre from the shop.

Rachel Davies, community regeneration development officer with Carmarthenshire County Council, said: “When they applied to us, they were at the stage where they were about to lose their post office counter.

“There was no mobile phone signal and very patchy broadband; the situation was fairly grim.

“The WiFi hotspot that was been created allowed mobile phones to be used within the coverage area using 3G connectivity.

“That was great for tourism and the cycle trails which are just within the coverage of the wireless signal.

“They came up with the idea of an alternative post office solution and the first step was to install a free-to-use cash machine.

“People have been able to use the PC in the shops to pay for things like car tax – like an alternative online presence but with help available to guide people through the process.

“It became a hub for community services.”

There have been fights in the village to retain bus services while projects such as the Gwyl Glyn Cothi Festival have been created and social enterprise group Pobl y Fforest has also been created to secure the future of community woodlands.

Mr Polish said: “The whole character of the village is changing as its heart dies.

“We need to see how we can keep the important character of the community and also to benefit from the inclusion of the Brechfa Forest area as part of the Cambrian Mountain Initiative (CMI).”

As a wide-ranging project the CMI aims to help promote rural enterprise, protect the environment and add value to products and services in Mid Wales.

Jillie Gardiner, who operates a bunk house business near Brechfa, has been working on projects for the initiative.

She said: “The CMI helps the community to access resources that it needs to build a strong economy based on the beautiful natural environment that we have here around us.

“From a business holder’s point of view I think the benefit of community’s working together like this is the fact that it encourages residents to support the local economy, local traders rather than the big supermarkets etc.

“As a resident of the village I wouldn’t say that community spirit has disappeared in Brechfa; the school, the post office, the pub were all things taken away from us, things that we were not able to control, so it is about taking that control back.”

The Pub is the Hub initiative has also expressed interest in supporting the community’s aspirations.

Initiated by HRH The Prince of Wales in 2001, as president of Business in the Community, the organisation encourages local authorities, local communities, licensees, pub owners and breweries to work together to support, retain and locate services within rural pubs.

A spokesman for Pub is the Hub said: “Rural communities, and this country’s rural way of life, face unprecedented challenges.

“The country pub, which has been at the heart of village life for centuries, is disappearing in many areas.

“Providing services from the pub, such as a post office or a shop, keeps an essential service in the village.”

Caroline Evans added: “It is important that as many local residents come forward as possible.

“There is some urgency now as the auction of the Forest Arms is on 11 July and we need some idea of the will to take on the projects.”

* The public meeting will take place at 7.30pm on Thursday June 21 in the Church Hall, Brechfa. For further information call 01267 202305.